Ball-bearing separator



April 14, 1925.

F. W. GURNEY BALL BEARING SEPARATOR Filed Oct. 29, 1921 Parental Apr.14, 1925.

UhilT-E STATES 1,533,185 PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. GURNEY, OF JAMESTOVJN,

NE-1V YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO MARLIN-ROGKXVELLCORPORATION, OF JAMESTO\V1 T, NEW YORK, A COR- JEOEATION OF NEW YORK.

BALL-BEARING SEPARATOR.

Applicationfiled October 29, 1921. Serial No. 511,482.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK \V. Gnnnnr, a citizen of the UnitedStates, resicing at Jamestown, in the county of Chautauqua and State ofNew York, have inrentcd a new and useful Improvement in Ball-BearingSeparators, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ball separators or spacing devices for theballs of ball bearings, and particularly to ball separators of that kindwhich are composed of sheet metal stamped or shaped to form spacedconfining pockets for the balls.

Some of the ball separators heretofore used, especially those which areconstructed to ride on the inner portions of the balls nearest thecenter of the hearing, if the separators are loose, give m'uch troubledue to theseparators running out or center and oftentimes rubbing on thelunar bearing ring, The principal reason for this is be- A cause thepockets of the separator cannot Ill) be made ofsutiicient depth, andtherefore their-bearing upon the balls is too near the circular line onwhich the centers of the circular series of balls are located. The resistancefito the separator going out of center is offered by apractically tangential contact'with the balls. The bearing pressure ofthe separator on each ball should be exertedin ajdirecticn more nearlytoward the center of the ball or approximate j more nearly to a radialpressure upon the ball. 7 One object of the invention is to produce aball separator which is of light, simple and inexpensive construct-ionbut will nevertheless bestrong and durable and insure a more dependableand easier centering of the separator upon the circle of balls and amore positive separation of the balls. "Other objects are to make astrong, rigid ball separator which is composed of only two stamped orformed pieces of metal which are firmly and rigidly secured together byinterengaging, integral portions of said pieces and without any rivetingor separate fastening devices whatever; also to form the separator sothat it rides upon or engages the balls outwardlybeyond the circularline of the centers of the balls, ithereby securing larger contact areasbetween the separator and the balls and a more nearly radial pressure ofthe separator on the balls and insuring a stronger construction and morepositive separation of the balls and concentricity of the separator; andalso to improve ball separators in the other respects hereinafterdescribed and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a ballbearing provided with a ball separator embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation thereof on line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation thereof on line 3-3, Fig. 2.

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective View showing the two parts of theseparator before the same are secured together.

F 1g. 5 is a fragmentary section of the separator showing by full andbroken lines the manner of securing together the two parts thereof.

A and B represent respectively the inner and outer hearing or racerings, and C the balls of an annular ball bearing of known construction.The bearing illustrated is a combined radial and thrust bearing, and asis common in bearings of this sort, the inner and outer bearing rings Aand B are provided with circumferential grooves a and b respectively,which form the race for the balls, the outer bearing ring being providedat one side of the annular seriesof balls with a thrust shoulder b whichtakes the end thrust on the bearing, the outer ring being counter-boredor of larger internal diameter at the other side of the balls tofacilitate the assembling of the parts of the bearing.

The ball separator is composed of two oppositely disposed, connected,annular, thin or sheet metal parts or rings and 11, each of which isstamped, pressed or otherwise disposed in a plane perpendicular to theaxis of the bearing. lVhen the two rings or parts and 11 of theseparator are placed together, the outer web parts 14, which preferablyhave flat inner faces,bear against each other face to face in a planeperpendicular to the axis of the bearing and midway between the ends ofthe separator, while the pocket portions 12 are disposed in pairsOpposite each other and form pockets or confining recesses ofsegn entalspherical contour for the balls; The two rings are rigidly securedtogether in this relation by integral parts oi the rings which areengaged or interlocked with each other. Preferably the outer web parts1.4 of one of the separator rings 10 are formed with voutward extensionsor tongues adapted to be bent over the edges oi the web parts 14 of theother ring 11 for securing the rings together, and the outer 'e'd gesotthe web parts 14 of thefri'ng 11 are provided with peripheral notches 16in which the securingtongues 15 seat when bent over to securingposition.

The "engagement of the tongues'l'b in the notches 16 prevents anyshitting or relative niovernent 'of the rings circuinferentiallyrelatively to each other, and since the broad web portions 14 bearagainst each other, face totace and vare pressed and held together bythe bent-over tongues 15, the two'parts of the separator will be veryfirinly and rigidly held. in place .againstrelative movement in any.vdirection. The contacting web portions 14 of the rings. can, if desired,lee spot welded, but th1s is not essential, since the con scuonrorm athe bent-over t ngues seated inthe notches as'n explained, produces avery secure connection of the parts of the separator. 'The flaring inner.web parts 13 are preferably provided with sinall holes 17 forlubrication andtor the cleansing of the bearingin the washing process afterassenibling. i i i i By forming the rings or parts otthe separator andconnecting them as described, the

V separator, although made of comparatively thin metal and being oflightweight, is e eeedingly shit, or rigid, and strong. S nce the inner andouter'web parts 13 and 14: ex-

tend at different angles to the curvedpocketforming portions 12,theformer parts 13 perpendicularly to the. axis of the separator, andthe latter parts ltlaterally of the portions lQ, the several partsmutually cooperate in stiffening and strengthening the separatorinpractically all directions Therefore, the probability ofdistorting ordeforming the separators is very remote.

As "shown by the drawings, the separator is supported by or rides on theouter heinispheres of the balls C. This gives various advantages.The-points'ot contact of adjacent balls with the outer race ring aremuch. farther apart than the points or contact of wearer;

between adjacent balls and the outer ring a broad, triangular space,while etween adjacent balls and the inner ring the space is niuchnarrower, the angle between the balls in the one case being obtuse andin the other case acute. In niy separator I utilize thisihroadobtuseeangular space to get in the means for fastening the twoparts of the separator together, and i also use the wide angle betweenthe balls in this space to secure what i may call a wide saddle by whichthe separator rides theballsI it i A separator has. to ride the ballswith seine looseness or clearance because of the manufacturingvariations or discrepancies practically unavoidable in commercialproduction, but it can readilybe seen that riding on these broad andobtuse angle saddles this necessary looseness incurs a less tendency forthe separator to run out of center than it the bearing on the balls werenearer the line. through their centers where the bearing would be lessdirect and more tangential.- Therefore, a loosely titted separator 0ttl'iisdesign will run muchtruer to centerthan one which has bearing onthe 7 balls nearer the line through their centers. When used in bearingsof the typeillustrated, in which the outer ring has the thrust shoulderat one side and is counterhored at the other side, the separator can beinadeof an outer diameter practically equal to the counterbore diameterof the outer ring. 7 This permits the separator to eirtend very far upon theouterheinispheres of the ball, thus en abling the maximum widthfor the securing ton ues, and the maximum number of balls.

I clainias my invention: i LA ball separator for ball bearingscomprising opposite metal rings formed with opposed portions formingball confining pockets, and intervening webs connecting said pocketportions, and means consisting of interengaging integral parts of saidrings for secur ng the rings together at their outer edge portions withtheir webs contacting face to face, the inner edge portions of the ringsbeing spaced apart and disconnected.

2. Aball separator for ball bearings comprising opposite rings formedwith opposed} portions forming ball confining pockets, and interveningwebs connecting said pocket portions, said Webs of the opposite rings Ihaving outer portions which contact with v, intervening webs connectingsaid pocket portions, said webs increasing in width from pointsintermediate the inner and outer edges of the rings towards both of saidedges and the portions of said webs of the opposite rings between saidintermediate points and the inner edges of the rings diverging from eachother, and means for securing the rings together with the outer portionsof their webs contacting face to face. V

4. A ball separator for ball bearings comprising opposite rings formedwith opposed portions forming ball confining pockets, and

intervening webs connecting said pocket portions, said webs of theopposite rings having outer portions which contact with each otherbetween the ball pockets and inner portions which diverge from eachother inwardly, said outer portions of the webs and the adjacentportions of the pockets between the balls extending outwardly furtherfrom the center of the separator than the portions of the pockets at theopposite sides of the separator, and means securing said rings together.

5. A ball separator for ball bearings comprising opposite metal ringsformed with opposed portions forming ball confining pockets, andintervening webs connecting said pocket portions, said webs of theopposite rings having outer portions which contact face to face andinner portions which diverge from each other inwardly, and meansconsisting of interengaging integral parts of the contacting outerportions of the webs for securing the rings together at their outeredges.

FREDERICK W. GURNEY.

